Microsoft Corp’s ‘Teams’ application, which supports over 270 million monthly users, has just gone under causing several hours’ worth of worktime disruption for thousands of online workers across the globe.
The tech giant has just addressed the issue after several reports came in of users being unable to access the app or its features, which include work-based communication tools, scheduling functions, and many other essential bits required for the day-to-day operations of thousands of companies.
We’ve determined that a recent deployment contained a broken connection to an internal storage service, which has resulted in impact. We’re working to direct traffic to a healthy service to mitigate impact. Additional information can be found in the admin center under TM402718.
— Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) July 21, 2022
They also confirmed that the issue had spread to other Microsoft 365 services, such as Word, Office Online, and SharePoint online — which are used for document creation, management, and sharing, as the names suggest.
Our telemetry indicates that Microsoft Teams functionality is beginning to recover. We’re continuing our efforts to implement relief within the environment. Additional information can be found under TM402718, MO402741, or at https://t.co/AEUj8uAGXl.
— Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) July 21, 2022
Considering that over a billion people and over a million companies collectively use Microsoft’s productivity applications, this represents one of the biggest tech gaffes in recent history.
What Went Wrong?
While Microsoft’s office suite has existed for nearly 35 years, having first been revealed in 1988 by Bill Gates, it’s come a long way since. For most of computing history, the core workplace applications attached to Microsoft have been offline affairs — often coming bundled with Windows installation CDs. (Remember those?)
By 2017, however, the world largely began to shift into online-first working methods, largely bolstered by the Google-driven push towards cloud computing. With files stored online and employees connected 24/7 via faster, broader reaching networks, Office 365 launched as part of a Microsoft initiative to update and link workforces across the world.
That’s not what happened this morning, though — as Downdetector reports indicated:
The problem lies with Azure — the cloud service model at the core of Microsoft’s modern data businesses. While it isn’t yet clear as to what exactly led to the ‘broken connection’ which has hampered Microsoft’s ability to handle the situation, the platform has certainly shown issues this year. A recent report suggested that more than 24 different data centers — including key locations in Washington, Europe, and Asia, are currently operating at reduced capacity.
The report suggested that Microsoft, like most tech companies, was feeling the brunt of the combined surge in global telework demand, combined with the ongoing semiconductor shortage. This led to a situation where Microsoft continued to bring more cloud computing customers under their wing, while their capacity to serve them began to dry up.
Elated Reactions From The World’s Workforce
So, are people outraged? Well… not really.
Several corporate workers across Asia and Oceania found themselves with an unexpected break as morning and afternoon meetings across the regions hit a roadblock — giving several of us an unexpected break.
Unsurprisingly, people turned to Twitter instead, celebrating what essentially amounted to a surprise ‘school cancelled’ moment for adults:
MS Teams is down.
Corporate slaves rn: pic.twitter.com/iVNWdVjV3I
— Lester Park (@irrelevantfan91) July 21, 2022
MS Teams to everyone. Haha! pic.twitter.com/wOSetSVqJx
— xviielie (@xviielie) July 21, 2022
I just want to say, Microsoft Teams, please take your time. No rush to fix your servers. Really it’s ok. We can wait.
WE CAN WAIT. REALLY.
— essence of chicken rice (@e_rinchansan) July 21, 2022
So Microsoft Teams just went down… I guess it’s time for me to clock out pic.twitter.com/JMlAb1W7p8
— some bald headed gay slag 🌈💖💅🏾 (@astoldbymarkus) July 21, 2022
Unfortunately for them, however, Microsoft has one of the largest tech troubleshooting teams in the world, so the moment isn’t expected to last too long.
When MS Teams comes back onlinepic.twitter.com/GPek416PSU
— Abby Jean (Taylor’s Version) (@abbyjeanwilder) July 21, 2022
After ‘rerouting’ a portion of internet traffic, Microsoft claims to have eased the burden on their servers, resulting in some part of the crisis being averted. “We’re receiving many reports that users are able to access Microsoft Teams, and many functions are beginning to recover,” the company said.
I guess it’s back to work again — party’s over.
(Featured Image Credits: Microsoft)